American Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda topped the times sheet at the end of day one of the three-day IRTA MotoGP test at Jerez today. In cool 18 degree temperatures and windy conditions Hayden, from Owensboro, Kentucky, put in an amazing 107 laps of the 4.423 km Spanish circuit. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion tested a variation of the latest RCV chassis which has a modified stiffness characteristic to the chassis he has run with in the previous two winter tests, while running with the 2008 version of the RC212V equipped with standard valve springs. Nicky Hayden also spent a large part of his day testing new tyres for Michelin.

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1’39.200 – on lap 84 of 107

“All in all, a pretty positive day. I would definitely say this was the best first day of tests we’ve had so far this year. And we knew it was important, because the weather experts are saying there’s a really good chance of rain the next two days. I tried a different chassis, it felt slightly better with a little more feel on the front, so we used that most of the day and it felt pretty good. We went through a few other things, not making big changes because we’re getting closer to the season now, just a few little settings changes, and when I thought things felt better the stopwatch normally went along with it, which is always good. At the end I did race distance and it didn’t feel too bad. We were able to get into the 40s on race tyres, though we still need to get in there a little deeper, we still need to improve a bit.”

MotoGP Test Times – Day 1

1. Nicky Hayden Honda 1’39.200
2. Randy De Puniet Honda 1’39.444
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1’39.528
4. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1’39.629
5. James Toseland Yamaha 1’39.678
6. Alex De Angelis Honda 1’40.165
7. Shinya Nakano Honda 1’40.192
8. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1’40.641
9. Casey Stoner Ducati 1’40.651
10. Andrea Doviziosi Honda 1’40.767
11. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1’40.843
12. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1’41.352
13. Marco Melandri Ducati 1’41.392
14. Toni Elias Ducati 1’41.703
15. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1’41.763
16. Anthony West Kawasaki 1’41.821
17. John Hopkins Kawasaki 1’41.901
18. Olivier Jacque Kawasaki 1’42.557
19. Niccolo Canepa Ducati 1’42.652
20. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati 1’42.698
21. Vittoriano Guareschi Ducati 1’43.435